21 | Southern Enterprise Awards 2021 Scrumptious Consultancy empowers small- and medium-sized enterprises to bring their vision to life and turn it into a competitive advantage. The name “Scrumptious” is a reminder of the consultancy’s roots as a small business. “Scrumptious Preserves” was started as a cottage industry, making jams and chutneys in a home kitchen with small children on the loose. The business was well-structured and had a plan – which led to its rapid growth. Crucially, business support was sought, and this came through a business mentor to validate and challenge the company’s thinking. The business was able to diversify into a consultancy supporting other businesses – of all scales, to grow, to thrive, and in some cases, simply survive. Scrumptious Consultancy is a small team with a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise. Examples of this are health and safety matters including all aspects of COVID-19 risk assessment and planning, and building and shaping online shops, digitising businesses who have previously lacked the knowledge, skills or desire to take their business online. The consultancy supported a manufacturing company to navigate the complexities of manufacturing safely through a pandemic when their competitors stopped working. The range of sectors that Scrumptious Consultancy has experience in are wide ranging and include agriculture and manufacturing, public sector trading, construction, food manufacture and retail, export growth, engineering and defence, charitable trustee posts, franchisee businesses, non-executive director, health and safety, fire safety and compliance, public sector leadership, local and centre government interface, and supply chain management. It also has a network of trusted suppliers, providing its clients with tactical support and filling the gaps where businesses need flexible solutions whilst they grow. When Scrumptious Consultancy works with an organisation, it likes to use a range of strategic, tactical and operational business tools to understand their needs. These can range from Best Nationwide Business Consultancy 2021 a canvas business plan to swot analysis of a team, the product or the trading environment. Governance and decision making in the business is always a great starting place when working with businesses. Scrumptious Consultancy gains an idea of aspirations for the business, the machinery behind what drives the leader of the business and understanding why they are doing it and why they do it the way they do. Currently, the consultancy is talking to businesses about assuring cashflow, exploring diversification, good governance models, routes to market, export strategies, and marketing. It is seeing interesting HR and recruitment challenges and is signposting initiatives to support headcount growth and the successful use of schemes such as the kick starter scheme and apprenticeships. Using its experience of running businesses at director and chief executive level, Scrumptious Consultancy tries to cover and signpost all areas for consideration. Meanwhile, the pandemic did mean that the consultancy was faced with a number of challenges, and it was questioning how it was going to support its clients without being face- to-face. The team quickly realised that this new flexible approach to working meant that they were able to adapt and used a variety of online platforms. Some businesses needed financial assistance and access to funding was problematic during this period. Scrumptious Consultancy found that businesses with the ability to grow didn’t have the finance and potential to do that, so assisting with both parts of this growth has been rewarding. The pandemic has seen some businesses able to pivot and reach new revenue streams, but these have not been without challenge and a positive for Scrumptious Consultancy is that this created growth in its own client base. During a time of challenge, it’s easy to put personal development and budgets on the back burner, but the consultancy harnessed this growth with its clients throughout. Indeed, Scrumptious Consultancy has a resilience and determination to make it through the storm and it is now looking towards a bright future. It has been busy developing short- and long-term business packages to make its expertise more accessible and affordable to all types of businesses, proud of the flexibility on offer and knowing that there is always a way to help businesses grow. Company: Scrumptious Consultancy Contact: Carmel Gardner Email:
[email protected] Website: www.scrumptiousconsultancy.com Sep21743 Using its experience of running businesses at director and chief executive level, Scrumptious Consultancy tries to cover and signpost all areas for consideration.